Strange Days
by nlightnd
Summary: Sakura, after a head injury finds herself in a strange place with a ghostly presence watching over her.  Who is this mysterious protector?  And will  he, in turn, help her save Kakashi's life?  Rated Teen..KakaSaku fic


Disclaimer: Naruto and company aren't mine, nor will they ever be. Also, I'm not receiving any financial gain from the writing of this fic.

Standard warning applies for language, violence and adult situations apply. This isn't manga based, which some events from the anime might be mentioned, but I'm not intentionally or strictly basing this on anime events either. Itachi and Sasuke are missing nin, still, but everything else remains the same. For now this fic is rated teen, but will go up in a chap or two. Also, this contains a little of a pseudo lemon at the end...it's not much, but I wanted to give you, the readers, a little taste, or should I say tease? jk... Just a warning: this is a Kakashi/Sakura fic ,so all of you who don't like that coupling probably need to hit the page back button. happy reading.

Lost in a Mystery

"Damn! That man knows how to kill me", Sakura seethed aloud. She'd just returned from her daily workout with Kakashi and Naruto. Naruto had taken it easy on her, as usual, but Kakashi...he refused to hold back in regards to punches and strength. In his eyes...men and women, when fighting, were unequal, although some females could give them a good run for their money. But for some strange reason his training, today, hadn't followed his usual opinion. Why? What had been so different about today? Why had her teacher, who usually took it easy on her, to the point of aggravation, suddenly turned into the training partner from hell?

Her jade colored eyes narrowed, deep in thought, wondering what had caused her former teacher to become so aggressive towards her during their training. She'd watched gleefully as Naruto had his ass handed to him by Kakashi, silver hair glinting brightly under the sun; a slight sheen of perspiration formed atop his pale, but muscular, very muscular skin.

She all but outright drooled at the man, his sexy, toned body with the oh so tight six packs and pectoral muscles, strong, fluid movement that screamed to be adored, to be touched. Personally, she didn't know how he managed to still wear that black mask, even after all this time, even out in this blistering heat. She wondered if they'd ever gain the Copy Nin's trust enough for his guard to drop enough to share the secret of his looks with them. The secret that every woman was dying to know, along with every male in the village, save two. Genma and Jiraiya shared his secret. And they'd managed to never tell a soul, not a little feat considering the amount of sake those two consumed; not to mention they were the first and third biggest perverts in the entire village. Everyone knew who second place belonged to. Kakashi. It was well known and just as widely accepted as their Hokage's gambling problem. Tsunade had always been a sucker, yet she always lost. That was the reason she'd earned her nickname, "The Legendary Sucker".

Sakura's mind drifted back to this afternoon. After Naruto had had enough, Kakashi called her forward. The duo promptly erupted into a spar: kicking, punching, blocking, jutsu's, everything they could use. Of course, Kakashi landed more blows than he missed, unfortunately for her, her body felt every one of those kicks and punches. She'd tried her best to hit him, but the man was like the damned wind, incredibly fast and even harder to catch.

Managing to inflict a few flesh wounds, Sakura smiled. But he caught her off-guard several times, her attention diverted by the expanse of flesh and display of masculine power as they fought. She'd lost count of the bruises and cuts inflicted during their little "spar". Good thing she knew medical ninjutsu or she'd have been in the hospital for sure. Something had happened to piss him off and it seemed to have something to do with her, however she had no clue to whatever had angered him.

After the harsh beating her petite body had absorbed she quickly healed herself and ran home, ignoring Kakashi's voice calling for her to wait.

And that is how she'd come to her apartment, this moment, this time, looking and feeling like she'd been immersed in hell itself.

Shrugging, she grimaced slightly at the sweat rolling down her tight, toned body. Feeling extremely uncomfortable and smelly, she headed for the shower, started the water and peeled her soaked clothes from her skin. Stepping into the hot, refreshing stream, Sakura smiled as she felt slight relief from the knotted, tensed muscles as the hot water pounded her flesh.

She lathered up her lily-scented soap, washing thoroughly everywhere; wanting to be sure she'd missed nothing, she carefully washed her body twice. Never could be sure about germs, she thought. Of course, germs and the like were always on her mind with her being a medic-nin. You could never be too clean, or too careful. That was her motto.

The doorbell to her apartment rang and cursing she wished they'd go away. Unfortunately, that wasn't meant to be. The sound rang through her apartment several times. Huffing, she shut off the luxurious feeling water and shoved the shower curtain aside, grabbing a towel and wrapping it around her lithe, dripping figure. Not seeing the puddle of water directly outside the shower, she stepped onto the bath mat which had been soaked with remnants of her shower; had now grown cold.

Shivering, she muttered, "Cold", her teeth chattering and goosebumps breaking out along the skin of her arms and legs. "Great! Now I'm going to have to shave again in the morning." Sakura remembered what her best friend, Ino Yamanaka, always told her. The voluptuous blond told her that when you shave and get goosebumps afterwards you'd have to repeat the procedure within a day or so, as it seemed to make leg hair grow exponentially faster.

The door bang rang incessantly.

"Hold on", Sakura called while stepping forward. Her foot landed in a puddle of cold water causing both legs to slide out from under her due to the loss of balance, her head struck the edge of the sink before hitting the hard floor with a thud.

She moaned in pain. Her vision swam, eyesight dimmed and then went black. She heard her door bust open and the sound of two worried voices approached her; then she heard nothing more.

Sakura awoke to a cool breeze and immediately grabbed her head. No soreness. No pain. Nothing. Strange. She should at least hurt like hell after the blows to her head and the fall, but there was nothing. Why? How had this been managed? More importantly..._who_ had managed this sort of feat? Her former sensei, Tsunade couldn't even do this sort of healing this fast. So who had done this?

Her eyes fluttered open and she shot up in her bed, only it wasn't her bed. She wasn't in her apartment. Where was she?

The bed was a dark cherry colored four poster bed with black silk comforter and sheets, a very plush mattress, white ceiling-to-floor length curtains billowing at the bay window and a light sheer curtain that hung down from each side of the bed, including the foot of the bed. A vanity, wardrobe and dresser matching the cherry wood-colored bed finished out the room's décor. Walls painted different colors...two of them white and the other two were black. An odd, but welcome and unique change in her ordinary life, or so she believed.

Pushing back the covers she rose to her feet. No towel. Strange. A spaghetti-strap nightgown hugged her thin figure, it's hem falling mid-thigh, the color...black. Sakura wondered who was so obsessed with the color black. First the room and then her gown...what else in the house would be of the same color? Gathering her courage she grabbed the door handled, turned it and pulled the heavy wooden door open, it's hinges emitting a creak from the lack of use.

"Sounds like someone could use some oil on this door or something. Time to go exploring", she said. Stepping into the hallway she glanced down the short hallway where two other rooms existed, their doors appeared to be closed firmly. A stairwell was visible past the last door, the darkly colored wooden banister curved downwards, following the direction of the stairs.

Tentively moving forward, curtains billowed over a window at the top of the stairs, a breeze blowing gently, ruffling the white, flimsy material. Everything surrounded her seemed haunting, surreal. A dream world to intrigue her during her waking moments. But where was here? There were no pictures or anyone else around to question or talk to. Suddenly she felt very isolated and very much alone.

Sakura shivered as a very cold draft drifted by her, icy fingers brushing her pale skin, leaving chill bumps rising across her cooled flesh. Senses screaming at her, Sakura ignored them continuing her trek down the hall when a low, mysterious voice called her name.

"Sa...ku...ra."

Eyes wide she called out, "Who's here? Where are you?"

Her questions went unanswered as the voice kept calling out to her, frigid breath blew across the back of her neck as an equally cold grip held her tight, the voice never ceasing.

"Let go", she yelled, fighting against the tight hold her unseen adversary had on her. An idea quickly struck her and she forced her small body to obey her command, limbs shrinking; allowing her to slip under the invisible arms that had held her firmly.

A chuckle followed her as she sprinted down the short hallway and down the stairs. The haunting, sexy voice followed her downstairs, "Sakura, Sakura, I only wanted to play. Would you like to play with me?"

"No", she shouted, heart pounding and adrenaline rushing. "I don't want to play! I don't even know who the hell you are! Show yourself. I dare you." Chest heaving from the unexpected running and coupled with her fear, Sakura searched frantically for the front door which she spotted from the bottom of the steps. Making a bid for freedom she threw open the double doors; throwing them open and sprinted outside.

Crying out, she placed a hand over her mouth as she took in her every surrounding. Fields on all sides save one. A long, long, winding and dusty, gravel road stood stretched out before her. She could hear nothing but nature. No laughing children, no sounds of other nin training or just hanging out. Just what was going on here?!

"Come. Come back to me, Sakura. Return to me. Please."

It beckoned, pleaded.

A small twinge hit her in the vicinity of her heart. The voice sounded as lonely as she felt. Sakura felt that maybe it would be safe in the house despite the fact she'd be sharing it with an invisible entity, a ghost. Figuring that it wouldn't hurt her or it would've already done so, she headed back inside and shut the doors behind her locking them as she did so.

Curiosity getting the better of her she wondered through the old house, searching for pictures or anything else that would give her a clue, or hint, of the person who formerly owned the house, or whoever was haunting it.

After searching the house she'd found three pictures. All three of them had had the faces inked out with black marker, their identities unable to be discovered. "Damn", she muttered in frustration. "Why aren't there more pictures? Why is this place so empty?"

A closet in the corner garner her interest quickly. The small closet hadn't been there before, she was certain of it. Smiling, she opened it and noticed a box sitting against the back wall. Gathering it into her arms she carried it to the dining room table and one by one emptied it's contents: a torn, bloody shirt, several shuriken stained with the same dark color, a black piece of cloth, torn and old, three kunai and an orange colored book, it's pages yellow with age; yet the book itself was well worn from multiple readings and certain pages dog-eared, marking favorite passages, or so she thought.

Studying all the items it seemed they'd belonged to a shinobi. And if she didn't know any better she'd swear that they'd all belonged to the great Copy Nin, Kakashi Hatake, himself. But if his things were here where was he? And was he severely injured?

Picking up the torn, discarded cloth that had once covered his handsome face, a feeling of apprehension shot through her as she realized he'd never willingly part with it. No, Kakashi never went anywhere without his face covered, even in hers or Naruto's presence. So why was Kakashi's things here? They had to be his! Sakura didn't know anyone else who read Jiraiya's penned filth. No one but Kakashi openly admitted and read it.

"I'm so confused...what is going on here?" Her head began to ache and she looked out the window at the setting sun. The darkness seemed to arrive much earlier here than normal. Yet another strange oddity to add to her growing list.

A heaviness began to grow inside her body. She unexpectedly felt exhausted, her head pounding, body growing heavier by the second. "What is happening?" Her sight dimmed and blinked out; her petite physique gave into unconsciousness and fell to the ground only a pair of hands caught her before she could hit the floor and injure herself.

The form carried her upstairs, her body pulled protectively against it's chest as the figure made it's way to the room she'd been placed in earlier. Laying her down gently, the ghostly apparition sadly smiled, eyes carefully watching her as she slept.

Leaning forward and placing a kiss on her head it whispered, "Good night, Sakura. Sleep well and dream sweet. I'll watch over you and protect you as you slumber."

True to it's promise, the entity kept watch all night and faded slowly as daylight arrived. As if on cue she awoke yawning and stretching. Her head swiveled quickly from one side to the other searching for a presence. Someone was here last night. She felt it. Her fingertips moved slowly to her forehead as she barely recalled the press of icy lips to her warm skin, a spoken promise hanging in the air. A promise that sounded so familiar yet she couldn't remember where or whom it involved.

Not wanting to be bored and lay around all day, Sakura jumped from her bed; throwing off the cover in the process, a smile breaking across her face at seeing her normal red crop-top shirt and black skirt laying neatly over the back of the chair sitting at the vanity. Crossing the room she hurriedly dressed never seeing the eyes that watched her,sadly calling forth memories that were better left dead and buried in the past. Or were they?

A soft but perceptible sigh escaped her lips as she mechanically moved through her familiar training and workout. She had no weapons on her but she worked hard on her fighting technique, as that needed the most improvement out of all her skills. Throwing punches, blocking, kicking out into the air at an opponent who wasn't there, flipping and propelling her body through a tough routine, her body a beautiful thing to behold.

Some time later Sakura reentered the house, sweat dripping, exhaustion and a sense of achievement coursing through her, she headed towards the bathroom for a shower. But before she could make it a sudden crash caught her attention. Following the sound of the object hitting the floor, she was brought back to the closet that had been under her scrutiny previously.

Bending down there was a mahogany box with intricate sakura blossoms etched on the cover. Gingerly lifting the lid there was a gold band with the very same sakura flowers engraved around the ring, a folded piece of paper lying beside the metallic object. Curiosity getting the better of her, Sakura picked it up gently, unfolding it while taking note of the many water stains around the edges and blurring several of the words, but not so they couldn't be made out. Tears instantly welled as she read the words contained inside.

_Sakura, _

_I'm writing you this letter as this is the last time I'll be able to speak with you. The mission to Suna was a failure. We never reached our objective. Unfortunately, we were attacked by shinobi from the Rock village; several of our best were slaughtered before our eyes. Why someone didn't have the foresight to send a medic-nin I'll never know. Maybe then we could've been saved. Maybe._

_Sakura, I'm sorry that I won't be able to keep my promise to you. The promise that I'd always come back safely to you. And more than that...I'm sorry that I won't be able to hold you, honor our vows and grow old and die with you. All of this pains me more than you know, even as I'm dying I think nothing of myself and everything of you. I wish nothing more than to be there with you now; touching your stomach which holds our legacy. The fact that I'll never see you again and that I'll never meet our child brings such pain. Even now tears cloud my eyes. I know...shinobi aren't supposed to show emotion, especially on a mission. How many times did I drill that into Naruto, Sasuke and you? _

_I must go. I feel my time coming; my life... slowly ebbing away into darkness. I just had to tell you these few things before I go. I love you and always will. Make sure and take care of yourself and our child. I know you'll raise him/her to know the father they never met, or knew. The best times were the times I spent with you, my wife. My fingers are growing numb, my body cold and my vision dim, and I pray that this letter reaches you, and that you won't be left wondering what happened. My time has come._

_Kakashi_

The letter hadn't been signed 'With love' or anything. Confusion reigned in her mind. The woman in the letter had her name and the man who'd written it bore the name of her team mate and former teacher. What the hell was going on here? Every single item she found stirred up more confusion, a mystery that begged to be solved. Knowing she wouldn't solve it tonight, she headed up the stairs when a notion suddenly struck her. The people in the letter was _her _and_Kakashi_! It had to be! There was no other answer, no other option that she could conceive.

Heading up the stairs she entered the bathroom and set the water temperature before stripping away her sweat-soaked clothes; dropping them to the floor. Sticking her hand in the stream, she found herself satisfied that the temp was perfect. Not too hot and not too cold. The events of the last day, or however many she'd been here, as she'd lost all sense of time here. The date of the letter struck her as weird and further convinced her regarding the names mentioned in the letter. It had been dated a few days shy of her twenty-fifth birthday. And according to her calendar, prior to being thrust into whatever place she'd been forced to, the date was November the fifteenth. She would be celebrating her twenty-fifth birthday this spring. This place, and all it's happenings were getting stranger by the day.

Too tired to think anymore Sakura finished washing her hair and her body, turning off the water and wringing her hair out of the excess water. Grabbing the towel off the hook by the shower, she quickly toweled off and went to her room where she first awoke.

Putting on the small, black, satiny gown, it's touch making her feel so feminine and beautiful, she crawled into bed and turned off the lamp. Closing her eyes it wasn't long before her heavy lids began to close when the comforter slowly drew back, revealing her small, womanly body. Instead of instantly fighting she felt paralyzed with fear.

A cool touch started at her calves and slowly worked it's ways past her knee, then her thigh. Her body trembling from the phantom touch which explored up her stomach to cup a small breast. A pair of equally cool lips grazed the side of her neck, then her pouting lips.

Sakura didn't understand why her body was responding to this thing she couldn't see. She wouldn't deny that she was frightened, but slowly and surely her mind was giving way to the invisible, silken touches, the heat this ghost lover was creating. Honestly, she hoped it wouldn't stop. She'd never felt such molten feelings; no male had even come close to eliciting this kind of heat and attraction that she felt. Another thing to add to the enigma of this place: it was as if her body recognized the one touching her and welcomed it.

Caught up in the thrall of this creature's seduction, chills of excitement ran down her spine as a voice whispered in her ear.

"Welcome home, Sakura. I've missed you." The husky whisper added to the webb she'd willingly surrendered herself too. "Now nothing will come between us." Fingers and lips continued to work their magic causing Sakura to feel the first wave of an approaching orgasm.

Coiled tension mounted in her lower stomach. Pink hair swiveled to and fro, begging for release, her back arching from the incredible talent of her unseen lover. Soon the wave overtook her and before she fell into the clutches of exhaustion ,she called out a name and the darkness took her away.

A/N: This is it for the first chapter. Hope you guys enjoyed it as there's more to come...especially a lemon.. lol...I know how some of you enjoy a good lemon, which I'll endeavor to provide. :) Just let me hear your thoughts.. I always enjoy getting feedback whether it's telling me I suck, or that it's good but there are a few things needing improvement. And if I've made any mistakes regarding names or such in the story please let me know. Thanx!


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